It lives!

I'M BAAAAAAACK!!!!

Yikes, that was a nice, what, unexpected two week break? Let me tell you, things have been absolutely nutty around here! I haven't had time to follow my Google Reader OR sit down to blog! Work has been pretty crazy too; it's the start of the semester so everyone wants everything yesterday! (why no, we can't do that!)

So, because nothing turns me off more than a big long boring paragraph (well, that and coffee breath), I'll summarize some of the cooler points of my last two weeks of absence:

x I had a birthday! WHOA!! I've been 29 for a week now and you know what, big whoop. I did get some wonderful gifts from my mom, as well as Mr. Cats and his parents and his sister. (Mmm, World Market gift card...) But yeah, pretty uneventful!

x I had a wonderful time visiting my mom in Massachusetts for Labor Day! Let's see if I can find a photo of home... hmm...



There we go. That's a view of a local ski mountain from my mom's deck. One of the bigger differences I notice between MA and NC is the landscape - at least in eastern NC, there are no mountains! Everything is extremely flat.

But anyways, we had a great time, went to the Melting Pot (YUM) for some fondue, did some shopping, and relaxed! We are already looking forward to heading up there for Christmas, because there is NOTHING like a New England Christmas! (Except for maybe a New England fall... unfortunately the leaves hadn't turned much yet when I was there.)

x The house closes the first week in November!!!!!! AAAAHHH!!! I am beyond excited! We now have windows and insulation, and by next week at the very latest we will have sheet rocked walls and a brick exterior. Our final walkthrough is October 20-something (27th?).. almost a month away! It's almost surreal, but we are very excited. :)

x LET'S GO RED SOX!!! Hopefully we can keep the Wildcard! Dice-K is back too. Go team!! Patriots barely squeaked out a win against the Bills Monday... eek! I'm also keeping an eye on the KC Chiefs, not only because Mr. Cats roots for them, but Matt Cassel is QB there now. They lost on Sunday to Philly I think, booooo. (Panthers got their bums beat too, ouch.) I'm not as big of a football fan as I am for baseball, but it's still fun!

x Mr. Cats and I have a couple of projects we are working on, one of them is somewhat secret that involves video games that will take up a decent chunk of our time. I really can't say anything about it now, but there is a really big chance that we will be able to get in on the ground level of something very cool and exciting in the gaming community! (NEEEERRRDDSSSSS!!)

I'm also taking an initiative ahead of time and starting to learn about gardening. We are going to have a gorgeous, very decent sized backyard that I want to make a pretty, relaxing little haven. I'm looking into hardy plants (I've never had a garden, LOL) and maybe toying with the idea of a small water garden (Will it flood???.. it sure can rain here...). I know I can't (and won't) be able to do it all at once, but I love to learn and I'm really looking forward to my new hobby. :)

And once I get my camera for Christmas, I'm going to start taking more and more photos. I'm eventually going to make a photo blog/site once that comes around too!

x Do you remember my birthday giveaway? Do you? (I hope you do, I'm too lazy to find a link back to it.) The one I was supposed to announce the winner of on the 9th? OH YEAH! That one! Well I've picked a winner - actually, had Finnegan pick a winner out of crumpled up balls of paper with numbers on them, it was very scientific yet unbiased - and it is the girl from The Girl with the Pink Teacup! I'm linking her blog even though it's post-mortem, because while she has left the blogging world due to real life turbulence, she still made some absolutely stellar posts. Dear Teacup, I'll email you shortly with details on this, but if you manage to read this between now and then feel free to drop me a line!

Thanks for playing everyone! Giveaways are fun, I hope to do another one (or maybe a few little ones) around the holidays. :)



WAS THAT LENGTHY? You bet your bumpus it was! Now I'm going to try and catch up on my Google Reader, then head inside for a well deserved nap. It's good to be back!!!